Devices of the general type involved herein are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,013,369; 3,901,391; and 3,905,595.
This invention relates generally to apparatus for stacking loads of folded, flat boxes, particularly collapsed boxes of corrugated. Such boxes are delivered by the folder-gluer machine in stacks approximately one foot high, which may comprise 25 boxes. The stacks are delivered sequentially onto a conveyor from which they are generally manually removed and stacked. Keeping up with the speed of production of modern box-making machines placed a heavy burden on the workers who manually handled the stacks. Furthermore, hand-formed loads are often out of-square and may not ship well.
Prior art apparatus for stacking loads of collapsed boxes have not been well received by the industry because of their complexity. They were subject to frequent breakdowns and jamming. The driving mechanisms were noisy and, owing to their reciprocating action, generally hazardous. Many of the prior art apparatus had elevated receiving stations and therefore required inclined loading conveyors and operator platforms.
This invention is directed to an apparatus which uses the basic efficiency of an endless L-shaped conveyor having a top run and a bottom run connected to vertical runs. All runs of the conveyor are provided with guide members, some of which are fixed and some of which are supported in a manner so that their position may be changed. The location of the top run of the conveyor is determined by the position of its guide members which, in turn, are mounted on a pair of independently movable carriers.
The carrier is adjacent a separate portion of the top run of the conveyor and the carrier supports at least two movable guide members in contact with the top run of the conveyor. A motor is provided for moving the carrier in a vertical direction. A means is provided for cooperation with the carrier to facilitate transferring articles off the top run of the endless conveyor. A conveyor means is provided for receiving articles transferred off the top run.
The apparatus is adapted for automatic and/or manual operation. When on automatic operation, various limit switches and/or other sensors are utilized to initiate a sequential action.
The apparatus is also provided with means over the top run of the conveyor for centering individual stacks or layers of adjacent stacks so that each stack or layer of stacks is deposited squarely over a preceding one.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel apparatus capable of manual and/or automatic operation.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a apparatus which centers stacks irrespective of the fashion in which they enter the machine.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel apparatus which can accept articles at the high delivery speeds of modern production equipment.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which requires no adjustments for different sizes of loads.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which can be served at floor level.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel apparatus structurally interrelated in a manner to provide various advantages and features as will be made clear hereinafter.
For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings a form which is presently preferred; it being understood, however, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.